Dear Mother, Father, Sisters, Brothers, Family, Friends, and everyone else.
It`s been two weeks since I last emailed. But not very much has happened in those two weeks. I have taught homeless people, helped to comfort a man striken with Parkinson`s Disease, I have worked with mentally handicapped people and I have cut grass with a kama for a member who could not do it himself. I have worked with countless other people as well.
I`m not even sure what to write, but I think that this will quickly lead over into my Spiritual message. I`ll start with the fun things that I`ve done in the past couple weeks.
We had Zone Conference a couple weeks ago, it was a lot of fun filled with a lot of practice and wonderful testimonies and training. I really could feel the spirit throughout the conference and I learned much from those around me.
Last week Monday one of the members took us to a driving range, where I totally and miserably sucked at hitting the golf ball more than 10 meters, yes I`m using meters! It was lots of fun, took a video of me hitting a golf ball, luckily it wasn`t a fail it.
Ok This will cross over into my Spiritual message now.
Elder Tateishi`s Biweekly Spiritual Message
Of late I have been again studying the great Christlike Attribute of Charity, that purest Love of Christ. In fact I studied it this morning, and I pondered it, and I have thought about these past couple weeks, about the people I have worked with, about the lives that I have seen.
Let me start first with Miyagawa. Miyagawa is 30 years old, recently he lost his job, and his only family(his sister) will not support him or take him in or help him at all. He lives along the beach, picking up cans to sell for recyclying, barely scraping together $10 to $20 every week. He sleeps on a bench along the beach, dirty, unkempt and alone. We have brought him food a couple of times, to help him, we have given him a Book of Mormon to read and we have taught him how to pray. Every time we meet him, although his circumstances are poor he does not listen that intently to what we say. I think to myself, "Poor man... if only you would listen, what you hold in your hands (That book of Mormon) is more precious than food, or clothing, is far more valuable than job or money."
The next is Murakawa. He is 41 years old, he is schitzofrenic, and recovering. He is a heavy smoker, and was once a professional surfer. When he was 25 he went to Australia and there he was heavy into drugs and alcohol and many other things before his mind collapsed and he became schitzofrenic. Now he no longer surfs and simply seeks for friends. Because of his mental illness he is much like a young teenager, very talkative and carefree, all he wants to do is play. He called me this morning just to say hi and wanted us to go over to his place again on saturday. I think about him, and I wonder... "The Gospel I hold, if only he would listen, could help him more than he realizes. He could find a friend far better than any he has ever had."
Then there was Shinji, who we met once on the street. 30 years old, he is depressed and deeply stressed. I remember in that simple conversation looking into his eyes and even though I heard him laugh, I saw no light in his eyes, nothing but coldness, a lack of hope, a deep sadness.
The last, and personally the one I Love the most is Nakanishi. He is 50 years old, almost the same age as my Father. He is stricken with Parkinson`s Disease, and lives alone, Divorced I belief, and his daughter long gone and out of his life. He has no job, living off of welfare because of his illness and he smokes heavily. Whenever we go over to his house I watch him, I watch him struggle for breath because of how horrible his lungs are, I watch him shake uncontrollably because of his illness. I look into his eyes and I see sadness and sorrow. When one looks around at his frail, meager bookcase one can see dozens of books about happiness. He has lost all hope of quitting smoking, and almost all hope of finding happiness. I look into his eyes and I ask myself deep inside. "What I hold can bring him happiness, what I teach can bring light unto his life. God is here, he Loves, he cares."
What does all this have to do with anything? In the past 8 months I have entered into multiple lives. I have seen so many different people live there lives. I have seen so much. But it has reminded me that what I have is precious. That the way I have lived my life, that the beliefs and faith that I have held do are right. How much sorrow I have avoided because I followed God! How much Pain I missed because I listened to Christ! I know where I would be without the Gospel, I know I would be nowhere. I am nothing without this hope that I hold. I am useless without my faith. But even more than that, I am nothing without love. I am nothing without Charity. If I had true charity I would have spoken to those people and would not have simply thought! if I had true Love I would have boldy proclaimed to them that Christ can heal their lives! O what wretched man am I!
This all comes down to Love and Charity, this work, this world, this life. The greatest commandmant ever given was "To Love the Lord thy God, and the second like unto it. Love thy Neighbor as Thyself." No matter who you are, no matter what you have ever obtained, without love you are nothing. We are all Brothers and Sisters, one family of God, all Children of a Loving Heavenly Father. Then what stops us from loving our Siblings? Fear stops me, I know that. My faith is weak, for I fear that I will make mistakes. But I do know this, and I know where my faith is strong. I know that God Loves me personally. That although I am weak, although I make countless mistakes he still loves me. I know he Loves everyone else just the same, from the lowest of the lowest, to the highest of the highest. From Nakanishi to Christ himself. He loves them all the same.
I pray that I can be filled with that same Love, that I can be filled with a love to overcome all fear, that will not fail me. I work on it, and although I may not have it now... Although I may not obtain it in it`s perfection, even but a small taste, a small fraction of that love would suffice for me.
I say this in the spirit of Love, and in the Name of Christ, Amen.
With much Love
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
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